Old Mrs. Old
|image=oldmrsold.jpg |airdate=January 7, 2001 |previous=Bully |next=Krelboyne Girl }} is the eleventh episode of the second season of Malcolm in the Middle, which was broadcast on January 7, 2001. Synopsis Malcolm must help an awful old woman (Florence Stanley) in the neighborhood with whatever she wants of him because he breaks her arm trying to get his ball back when it accidentally ends up in her front yard, and she responds by grabbing Malcolm's hair and the ball. He ends up taking her car on a joy ride after she passes out from mixing alcohol with her medication, but is caught by Lois. Francis' friend, Richie, is sent to the military academy. Meanwhile, Reese tries to convince (and force) Dewey to use a regular backpack instead of a purse. Plot The episode begins by showing neighborhood kids, including Malcolm, Reese, and Dewey, playing a game that Reese made up. The ball from this game ends up in the yard of a feared elderly woman named Mrs. Griffin. Malcolm climbs the fence into the yard to retrieve the ball, but is caught by Mrs. Griffin. Malcolm responds by pushing her and breaking her arm, and is now responsible for helping her every day after school until her arm heals. Mrs. Griffin is outstandingly unpleasant, racist, and hoards things such as newspapers and rubber bands. She bombards Malcolm with questions about his nationality, and calls him stupid for being unable to identify a "rubber band jar". She is also a heavy drinker, even drinking with her medication. Meanwhile, at the recommendation of Lois, Francis' friend Richie is now a student at the military school Francis attends. Richie is not accustomed to the "military lifestyle". He does not cut his hair or dress in uniform. Commandant Spangler not only allows this, but provides Richie with special privileges. It is later revealed that Commandant Spangler is doing this to make the other cadets jealous of Richie so that they would take a disliking to him and turn against him. Francis explains this to Richie, but Richie dismisses it as Francis being jealous. Richie gets beat up by Eric, Finley and the other cadets, while Francis watches on smug. Meanwhile, Lois notices that Dewey has a tendency to mysteriously destroy his previous backpacks. Hence, she decides that he will use a purse as a bag. Dewey adopts an old purse belonging to Lois as his new bag. Reese is concerned that he will be beat up. So he tries to convince Dewey to use a backpack instead. It's met with a resounding refusal from him because it was Lois who gave him the purse that he could use. Dewey doesn't care if Reese finds it embarrassing, he will continue to use the purse as his bag. Reese even goes so far as to buy a backpack for him. Dewey continues to use the purse, and when confronted by his peers, hits them with it and reveals that he keeps a brick in his purse. Later on, Mrs. Griffin is unconscious as a result of mixing medication with alcohol. Malcolm and his friends take advantage of this by taking a joyride in her car, but are caught by Lois. He helps his friends escape as she arrives in route to the house. When Lois arrives demanding Malcolm to get his stuff and take him home to face proper punishment, Mrs. Griffin wakes up in time to stop it. She covers for him by lying to Lois that it was no joyride for her because she was unconscious in the backseat of her car. Lois is shocked by this confession and asks her to explain. Mrs. Griffin claimed that she made a mistake in accidentally mixing up her medication pills with alcohol(instead of drinking water with it) and Malcolm got very worried about her. He and his friends were trying to help get her inside her car so they can take her to the hospital. When Mrs. Griffin passed out from the attempt, it forced him to put her in the back seat and they drove off. Malcolm's friends kept vigilance on her by keeping their heads down and making sure she was all right while he drove her to the hospital to get proper treatment from there. She convinces Lois that she mistaken it as him taking her car out for a joyride when it was really an emergency drive there. She tells Malcolm that the next time there is an emergency involving Mrs. Griffin again, he should at least call paramedics for her or his mother so she could've helped him in that emergency. Mrs. Griffin also states, falsely, that Malcolm has offered to help her in the mornings as well as the afternoon. While mortified at first, Malcolm realizes it's better caring for Griffin than having to face Lois' wrath had things turned out differently. Trivia *When Mrs. Griffin asks Malcolm what his cultural background is, Malcolm replied "I honestly don't know." This was done because the creators of the show wanted to keep the cultural backgrounds of the main cast as ambiguous and unknown as possible. *Malcolm again mentions his grandmother. Ida Welker would make her debut in "The Grandparents". Cast # Bryan Cranston As Hal # Jane Kaczmarek As Lois # Christopher Masterson As Francis # Justin Berfield As Reese # Frankie Muniz As Malcolm # Erik Per Sullivan As Dewey Wilkerson # Evan Matthew Cohen As Lloyd # Kyle Sullivan As Dabney Hooper # Craig Lamar Traylor As Stevie Kanarban # Will Jennings As Eraserhead # Kasan Butcher As Joe # Eric Nenninger As Eric Hansen # Drew Powell As Drew # Karim Prince As Stanley Winn # Todd Giebenhain As Richie # Daniel Von Bargen As Commandant Edwin Spangler # Florence Stanley As Mrs. Griffin # Ricky Stark As Kid #1 # Brandon De Paul As Kid #2 Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 Category:Episodes focusing on Malcolm Category:Episodes focusing on Francis